Shelly's Book Blog

I'm not a horror fan, but Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, is one scary story I found well worth reading. Actually, I would say creepy is a better word to describe this strange but compelling story. Coraline is a young girl who lives with her rather neglectful parents (or so it seems to Coraline). She is often bored, and the story finds her interacting with her neighbors, looking for entertainment. Unfortunately, the neighbors can't even seem to get her name right (they call her Caroline). Coraline enjoys exploring, but unfortunately this leads to trouble. There is a mysterious, locked door in her family's apartment that opens onto a brick wall. Coraline's mother explains that the building used to be one house, and when it was divided into apartments this door was permanently blocked.

One day Coraline, left again to her own devices, unlocks the door and is surprised to see that the brick wall has been replaced by a long, dark passageway. She walks through and the nightmare begins. The other side is a sort of copy of her own house and comes complete with "the other mother" and "the other father," along with copies for other people, places, and even animals that inhabit Coraline's world. This alternate world seems great at first (these other neighbors at least get her name right), but it is not long before Coraline realizes that something is amiss.

This short but inventive tale should satisfy horror fans' desire for frightening situations and images, but I recommend it because it tackles, in an original and thoughtful way, that "grass is greener" issue that so many of us deal with in our real lives.